In the case of Midlander John Doering, it got him a chance to meet the radio voice of the Detroit Tigers.

Doering and his wife Kathy got a chance to meet Tigers' radio announcer Dan Dickerson before a Tigers' game against the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 9th.

"I've always listened to the Tigers on the radio, even in 2003," Doering, 46, said of the year in which the Tigers lost 119 games. "Listening to the ball game is a very pleasant experience. Every game is new and you never know what is going to happen."

Radio has provided Tigers' plenty of entertaiment over the years. Dickerson, who joined the Tigers' radio announcing crew in 2000, follows in the footsteps of such greats as Hall of Famer Ernie Harwell, Frank Beckman, Paul Carey and George Kell.

Back in June, Doering wrote a letter to Dickerson complimenting him on the way he brings Tiger baseball into the homes of thousands of avid listeners.

"I like the way Dickerson announces the game," Doering said. "He was a worthy successor to Ernie Harwell."

A couple of weeks later, Dickerson called Doering to thank him for the nice letter.

"I didn't leave a number," Doering said. "He looked me up and called. He thanked me for the letter and we sat there and talked about the Tigers and baseball for 20 minutes."

In that conversation, Dickerson said if the Doerings were ever going to attend a game, to give him a call and they'd get together.

Doering did.

He told Dickerson they were coming down for a game on Aug. 9th.

The night before the game, Dickerson called - during the Tigers' postgame show - to arrange a meeting with the Doering family.

"He gave us his cell phone number and said call him at a certain point," Doering said. "We got to the game early as we usually do. We figured he would have two minutes. He had 15 minutes. He came down to the concourse."

Doering has been a lifelong Tiger fan. He was at Game 3 of the 1984 World Series when Alan Trammell hit a pair of home runs. He also attended Game 4 of this year's Divisional Playoffs when they eliminated the New York Yankees. He also told the story of when he was 8 years old in Catholic school, the nuns wheeled in a black and white television set to watch the 1968 World Series.

"Here's a guy that has a front-row seat to everything that is happening with the Tigers," Doering said. "Every game he approaches it new. He's our eyes and ears. He said that he learned from Ernie Harwell to approach every game differently."

Doering, like most of the state, continues to revel in the excitement of the Tigers' stunning run to the World Series.

"It's just a pleasure," Doering said. "All we wanted this season was a winning record. We would have been happy with 83 wins. Next year or the year after was going to be the turnaround. When they beat the Yankees, it was pure joy, unadulterated joy."